Author: by Alex Wawro, Simon Carless

Microsoft reports it sold just 115,000 Xbox One consoles in the month of April in the U.S., placing behind sales of Sony's PlayStation 4 console for the fourth month in a row. The data comes courtesy of the NPD Group, which today released their estimates for new game hardware and software sold at U.S. brick-and-mortar stores for the month of April 2014. Neither Sony nor Nintendo have released detailed April sales figures, but NPD analyst Liam Callahan stated in a press release announcing the figures that "Sony’s PlayStation 4 was the No. 1 platform for hardware sales in April for the fourth month in a row, followed by Xbox One." It's not great news for Microsoft, who last month announced it had sold in (shipped) just over 5 million Xbox One consoles to retailers worldwide in the six months since launch -- outpacing the sell-in of the Xbox 360 at the same point in its lifespan by roughly 60 percent. But the company has been quiet on total worldwide sell-through numbers, and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood noted on the firm's recent earnings call that Microsoft's supply of Xbox One consoles was, at least for that moment, greater than consumer demand. This is a situation that did not appear to exist during the early days of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, which reputedly saw slower, supply-constrained beginnings. Overall, the 115,000 sell-through number reported today reveals that Xbox One sales are retreating, dropping roughly 50 percent on a weekly basis from the 311,000 Xbox One consoles Microsoft sold at U.S. retail the month prior - and in the first full month of sales for Titanfall, the firm's highest-profile 'exclusive' software title to date. (Electronic Arts & Respawn's Titanfall was the top-selling U.S. retail game for the month overall, but only across Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC, with the Xbox 360 SKU outselling the Xbox One version.) Indeed, Sony's Guy Longworth confirmed via a statement that Infamous: Second Son for PlayStation 4 was the highest-selling 'next-gen' console game at U.S. retail in April, beating out the Xbox One version of Titanfall. But Microsoft continued to beat its chest, touting its 2.9 games sold per Xbox One to date and promising via a blog post from Yusuf Mehdi: "We’re just getting started with this generation." Overall, the Xbox One's sales decrease also hints to reasons behind the company's recently-announced decision to begin selling cheaper, Kinect-less Xbox One consoles in June for $399, the same price as a PlayStation 4 - a move that Microsoft is hoping will rejuvenate its fortunes. Sony's fortunes are not completely peachy, either. Although it's sold through 7 million PS4 consoles worldwide to date, its parent company reported a loss for the year this week. But Sony believes a swing back to profits for its game business is in order, thanks to increased PS4 sales and improved margins, estimating it will sell 17 million PS4s and PS3s combined during the fiscal year.